Sub-station for better power

ANAND RAJ

The South Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd (SBPDCL) has decided to set up a new sub-station at Kankerbagh to ensure better electricity supply in the area.

The sub-station would come up at Transport Nagar in the Kankerbagh area at an estimated cost of Rs 80 crore. The installation work would tentatively start in mid-June. The project would be completed in around five months. A source said the proposal, including the planning and the design, to construct new sub-station has been chalked out to start the work soon.

The power sub-station would reduce power cuts in Transport Nagar, Bhagwat Nagar, Kumhrar, Pahari and Shantiniketan Colony among others. At present, the residents of these areas have to bear with frequent and long power cuts of four to five hours. Reason: overloading of Pahari power sub-station, supplies power to these localities.

“Once the proposed power sub-station at Transport Nagar is ready, the frequent problem of power supply would be sorted out. It would benefit around 30,000 people of the area,” an official of SBPDCL said.

There are altogether 47 power sub-stations in the city. Of them, six are in the Kankerbagh area (division). The new facility at Transport Nagar would take up the number of power sub-stations having two power transformers of 10MVA capacity in the Kankerbagh area to seven.

Power engineers felt the necessity to set up a new power station to reduce the burden on the overloaded facility at Pahari. But the work on the plan did not take off for some technicalities.

Besides, Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (Pesu), which comes under the jurisdiction of SBPDCL, has decided to carry out capacity augmentation of some of the power sub-stations in the city to reduce the frequency of power cuts. The installation of the new power sub-station and the capacity augmentation of few sub-stations would not only ensure smooth and better power supply but would also provide quality (with proper voltage) power supply, the source said.

A Pesu official claimed that the capacity augmentation of various power sub-stations of the city has to be taken up under the Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (RAPDRP). According to the centrally sponsored scheme RAPDRP, Rs 1,155.21 crore would be spent on strengthening the power distribution network in 64 places, including Patna, within three years.